Speed film dryer and method of drying radiograph film negatives



June 23, 1964 A, w, BUCK 3,138,437

SPEED FILM DRYER AND METHOD OF DRYING RADIOGRAPH FILM NEGATIVES FiledSept. 24, 1962 J 2 I z II JL 1W x K a I 323k I0 I l I I 1/ i "1 Z I l xI i Z L Z .6.

a i z 3 mmvrox. ARTHUR m BUCK S A T TOR/YEKS United States Patent3,138,437 SPEED FILM DRYER AND METHOD OF DRYlN G RADEQGRAPH FILMNEGATIVES Arthur W. Buck, 8709 Xograph Ave, St. Louis 36, M0. FiledSept. 24, 1962, Ser. No. 225,592 2 Claims. (Cl. 3413) The presentinvention relates to a speed film dryer and method for radiograph filmnegatives, and more particular- 1y to such a dryer and method in whichthe film negative is inclined and in which supplementing heated air ispassed over the lower portion of the film negative.

At the present time radiographs or X-rays are widely used as diagnosticaids for determining the condition,

position, etc. of parts within the human body which are not visible byexterior examination. It is the common practice to develop theradiograph film negative, to dry it, and to then inspect it after it isdried.

It ofiten happens that it is highly desirable for the person basing anopinion on the radiograph to give that opinion as soon as possible afterthe radiograph is taken, and a great part of the time consumed betweenthe taking of the radio graph and its presentation to the person givingthe vopinion in suitable, dry state is in the drying of the filmnegative. It has been found that water tends to flow to the bottommargin of the film negative, and so this part remains wet for thelongest time. Of course, it is entirely unsuitable that a negative whichis only partially dried be presented for viewing, as the water remainingthereon casts serious'doubts about the accuracy of the image which isbeing studied.

In some cases it has been known that water droplets will remain in theparts of the dryer which support the film negative, even'when the filmhas been substantially dried, and when the dryer is opened or the filmrack removed from the dryer, a force applied to the negative holder orhanger will dislodge the water droplets, and where these droplets havebeen adhering'to a part of the supporting structure above the filmnegative, a disturbance or shaking of. the dryer or its parts or of thenegative holder or hanger will dislodge the water droplet and cause itto fall downwardly onto the film negative. Such a water drop let willappear as a streak or a small area differentiated in color or shadingfrom the surrounding image. Such a streak or area has been known toresult in an erroneous interpretation of the negative. For example, ininstances where X-rays have been taken of the lungs, such a waterdroplet may appear as a spot on the lung, indicating a disease,disturbance or infection, where in fact the lungs are actually healthyand normal.

Because of the known tendencies of the film negative dryers heretoforeused to give results which are suspect, as above discussed, it is thepractice among many physici-ans to give only a preliminary opinionwithin a short time after the radiograph has been delivered to them fromthe dryer, and defer their firm opinion until a great amount of time haselapsed. Thus, in many instances it is the practice not to give a firmopinion regarding a radiographic study until several days has elapsed.

The deficiencies herein noted have existed, even though attempts havebeen made to correct them, such as by the addition of more heaters.However, mere increase in heating capacity has not achieved the desiredresults.

An object of the present invention is to provide a film dryer which willcompletely dry film negatives with great rapidity.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a film dryer whichwill enable film negatives to be dried with great rapidity, which filmdryer is economical to manufacture.

Yet another object of the present invention is the pro- 3,138,437Patented June 23, 1964 ice that the film is compleely dry throughout itsarea.

Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of the presentinvention will become apparent from the following specification anddrawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a film dryer inaccordance with thepresent invention, with one part thereof in disassembled position.

FIG. 2 is an elevational sectional view taken along line 2-2 in FIG. 1of a film hanger positioned in accordance with the present invention,with surrounding parts in phantom line.

Referring now to the drawings, wherein like or corresponding referencenumerals are used to designate like or corresponding parts throughoutthe several views, there is shown in FIG. 1 a film dryer'10 comprising acabinet 11 having groups of inlet openings 12, 13 and 14, and a group ofoutlet openings 16. In the top of the cabinet 11, mounted on hingedplates 17 and 18, are a pair of motors 19 whichare placed exterior-1y,of the cabinet, motors 19 driving fans 21 which are within the cabinetand beneath the groups of inlet openings 13 and 14. Below the fans 21 isa'heater 22,heater 22 being in the nature of a resistance element.

The front of the cabinet 11 is provided with-an access opening 25 whichmay be closed by a door 26 shown for clarity as leaning against thecabinet 11, but in use will be understood to be structurally connectedto-a drawer-like rack generally designated 27. Rack 27 is carried by apair of spaced supports which are'mounted within the cabinet 11- onopposite sides of access opening 25 and which extend within cabinet 11awayzfrom the access opening 25. The supports for the drawer-like rack27 are in the nature of known drawer support structures, anda part ofone of them is shown near the left edge of access opening 25, and isdesignated 28, it being understood that a similar support member extendswithin cabinet 11 adjacent the right hand edge of access opening 25.

Rack 27 contains a plurality of grooves 29 for receiving film negativehangers 30, a large number of which may be placed in the dryer 10 at thesame time for simultaneous drying thereof.

Referring now to FIG. 2, it may be seen that the film negative hanger 30is carried by the rack 27, and that the upper bar 31 thereof is inclinedto the horizontal, the angle of inclination beign as hereinbelow setforth. The inclination of the hanger 30 is due to the fact that thesupport 28 is somewhat higher than the corresponding other support forrack 27, this being accomplished by shims or other suitable means. Thehanger 30 includes a plurality of clips 32 which are used to securelygrip and hold the film negative. It will be understood that diiierentsize film negatives are processed, from time to time, and that in orderto accommodate them hangers are provided which have identical top bars31, but which are of different sizes to accommodate the film negativesof differing sizes. It is common at the present time to provide suchnegatives in various sizes, and three of these sizes are indicated bythe dashed line rectangles designated A, B and C.

As the conventional film negatives are generally rectangular, as abovementioned, the edges thereof will be inclined, both the top and bottomedges and the side edges, and this will cause any water thereon to drainto the lower edge, which is the bottom right hand corner of any one ofthe film negatives A, B or C shown in FIG. 2. This drainage of themoisture to one point or one portion of the film negative will tend todry more rapidly the remainder of the vided deflectors 36, 37 and 38.

"heater 33, which is also a resistance heater and is held spaced fromthe side wall of the cabinet 11, as shown. Adjacent and beneath andsecond heater 33, which exwardly along the wall of cabinet 11 to whichheater 33 is adjacent towards the lower portion of a film negativecarried by the hanger 30. Thus, the additional or supplementing heatedair is directed against and over the film negative held by the hanger 30at the lower portion of the film negative which is the portion of thefilm negative to which the water and moisture has drained.

In addition to the deflector 34, and in order to aid in the circulationof the heated air uniformly and rapidly throughout the interiors cabinet11, there are also pro- The dryer is provided with a timer 41, athermometer 42, a thermostat 43 and switches 44 and 45 for the fanmotors '19 and the heaters 22 and 33. An indicator light 46 is provided,and the circuit arrangement is such that the fan motors 19 must beenergized before the heaters 22 and 33 are energized It has been foundthat with presently used film materials, the most rapid and effectivedrying is achieved when the film negative is inclined approximately fourdegrees,

'tends from front to rear of the cabinet 11 and which is M beneath thelower ones of thesupports for rack 27, is a deflector 34 which serves todirect the air flowing down- It has been found that the structure andthe resulting tioning of the film negative Within the dryer 10. Thisthereby permits the giving of opinions on medical matters with greatrapidity after the taking of the radiograph, since the physician givingthe opinion can do so with assurance ably dry state, within a very fewminutes afterthe posiz that there is no moisture or water on thenegative which would cause an erroneous opinion.

It will beobvious to those skilled in the art that various changes maybe made without departing from the spirit of the invention and thereforethe invention is not limited to what is shown in the drawings anddescribed in the specification but only as indicated in the appededclaims.

What is claimed is:

1. A speed film dryer for a plurality of radiograph film negatives ofthe type having at least three corners comprising a cabinet having airinlet and outlet openings, motor driven fan means adjacent the top ofsaid cabinet for blowing air downwardly in said cabinet, first heatermeans below said fan means, an access opening into said cabinet,horizontally spaced apart support means in said cabinet below saidheater means at opposite sides of said access opening and extendingwithin said cabinet away from said access opening, slidable rack meanscarried on said support means for sliding movement into and out of saidcabinet, means on said rack means for supporting a plurality ofradiograph film negative hangers transversely of said spaced supportmeans, one said spaced support means being lower than the other anamount to give a lateral inclination to said film hanger and said rackmeans, second heater means in the lower portion of said cabinetgenerally beneath said one support means and deflecting means below saidsecond heater means for directing air flowing downwardly past saidsecond heater means toward the center of said cabinet, said negativebeing disposed in such a manner that one of the corners thereof nearestsaid second heater means is the lowest point of said negative while insaid cabinet.

2. The speed film dryer of claim 1, wherein said lateral inclination ofsaid film hanger and said rack means is ap proximately four degrees.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS525,921 Proctor- Sept. 11, 1894 1,349,568 Gammel Aug. 17, 1920 1,563,858Ingve Dec. 1, 1925 1,589,642 Harris June 22, 1926 1,833,631 Wilsey Nov.24, 1931 2,376,174 Munning et al May 15, 1945 v FOREIGN PATENTS 581,778France Dec. 5, 1924 Germany et- June 15, 1959

1. A SPEED FILM DRYER FOR A PLURALITY OF RRADIOGRAPH FILM NEGATIVES OFTHE TYPE HAVING AT LEAST THREE CORNERS COMPRISING A CABINET HAVING AIRINLET AND OUTLET OPENINGS, MOTOR DRIVEN FAN MEANS ADJACENT THE TOP OFSAID CABINET FOR BLOWING AIR DOWNWARDLY IN SAID CABINET, FIRST HEATERMEANS BELOW SAID FAN MEANS, AN ACCESS OPENING INTO SAID CABINET,HORIZONTALLY SPACED APART SUPPORT MEANS IN SAID CABINET BELOW SAIDHEATER MEANS AT OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID ACCESS OPENING AND EXTENDINGWITHIN SAID CABINET AWAY FROM SAID ACCESS OPPENING, SLIDABLE RACK MEANSCARRIED ON SAID SUPPORT MEANS FOR SLIDING MOVEMENT INTO AND OUT OF SAIDCABINET, MEANS ON SAID RACK MEANS FOR SUPPORTING A PLURALITY OFRADIOGRAPH FILM NEGATIVE HANGERS TRANSVERSELY OF SAID SPACED SUPPORTMEANS, ONE SAID SPACED SUPPORT MEANS BEING LOWER THAN THE OTHER ANAMOUNT TO GIVE A LATERAL INCLINATION TO SAID FILM HANGERS AND SAID RACKMEANS, SECOND HEATER MEANS IN THE LOWER PORTION OF SAID CABINETGENERALLY BENEATH SAID ONE SUPPORT MEANS FOR DEFLECTING MEANS BELOW SAIDSECOND HEATER MEANS FOR DIRECTING AIR FLOWING DOWNWARDLY PAST SAIDSECOND HEATER MEANS TOWARD THE CENTER OF SAID CABINET, SAID NEGATIVEBEING DISPOSED IN SUCH A MANNER THAT ONE OF THE CORNERS THEREOF NEARESTSAID SECOND HEATER MEANS IS THE LOWEST POINT OF SAID NEGATIVE WHILE INSAID CABINET.